Having read a lot of posts on this now, I feel a lot of people just confuse
UI questions with technical stuff. I don't see why much of Finale's storing
and handling of expressions and metatools has to be changed at all, instead
I would suggest that a lot of improvement could be implemented by simply
adding an additional way of _entering_ expressions. I don't know how
Sibelius works in this respect but I wouldn't be surprised if it handles
thing quite similarly:
I suggest adding another input method for expressions that is separate from
metatool as we know them. The way I would like it to work is this:
With the tool selected, click on a note or whereever else you need an
expression. Start typing, ie "pi" for pizz. Finale looks up it's expression
library and auto-completes the name I type (just like most browsers do these
days). When I see the correct expression ("pi" may display piano, so I will
have to type on for "piz" and Finale complete correctly) I type return. The
correct expression is entered from the expression list.
Given the case that I want an expression that is not currently in the list I
just keep typing until it is complete (and Finale should then not suggest
any completion - if it does I will have to hit backspace to delete it) and
hit return. Now perhaps there should be an option where Finale could be set
to _ask_ whether it should add the expression or always add.
This would save a lot of time for a lot of things I am doing.
In addition I would really like to see autoplacement for expressions. I
suggest that autoplacement can be done either automatically or perhaps when
a hotkey is pressed simultaneously - again a program option to allow both
ways as the user prefers. There should be a general option for placing new
text expressions, but the option to adjust this for every expression
separately.
I don't see why this should conflict with the flexibility we already have.
Johannes
--
http://www.musikmanufaktur.com
http://www.camerata-berolinensis.de
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